Gas Delivery Can Martin Explain Please

bikeman

Until very recently my gas bill from Powergen stated that my gas transporter was Transco. Then last month It changed to Independent Pipelines Ltd and Powergen informed me that they were going to levy a £42 pa charge because this independent network connects my house to Transco.

What's going on? Have Transco sold off their local distribution network? Does this mean which ever supplier I change to they will all try to recoup this charge?

How come Energywatch just sit back and let Transo make changes which result in effective price hikes way above inflation?

rosscobley

Yes transco have sold off most of the gas network now but you should not be charged more for it.
Look at the mprn number on your bill if it starts with 74 or 75 its a non transco site and you will have to pay the extra charge with most companys.
Also another way to find out is look at the sticker on the meter and it should say who owns it

bikeman

My mprn is 552xxx, so it's still Transco? And so I shouldn't have to pay?

rosscobley

What the post code for your street i will check for u

bikeman

Powergen insists I am with Independent Pipelines. I also called Transco who said the same. So that's that.

I think what's concerning me most is that there doesn't seem to be any regulation or visibility of this charge. After an investigation Ofgem seem to have agreed that the IGTs can charge whatever they want (so it could go up and up!) yet Transco don't charge anything.

It isn't included in any pricing regulation against the gas suppliers tariffs and it is also not visible in any of the gas suppliers tariffs nor on any of the comparison sites. My guess is that every supplier will pass it on.

It is a charge that I cannot escape because of the location of my property. It's not big enough to affect house prices but like council tax, postcode etc they all feed into a properties desitrability. It's a bit like BT charging anything they like for a phone line when you have no choice of alternative line supplier - they weren't allowed to do it and neither should the IGTs.

I am very surprised that there hasn't been more made of this by the press/MPs etc.

rosscobley

yeah that about right. You find that most new houses will have to pay this charge. Its down to the people who build the houses.They ask all the pipe line people to quote to install the pipes and the cheapest one win. only problem is that transco charge a lot more most of the time so no one uses them. A few Companys out there will not charge the extra i think Bgas are one and maybe scot power is another. It may be worth you trying them...

omega27

British Gas & EDF don't charge an extra IGT charge.

Sigma1

This situation gets worse - with some suppliers (I'm with Scottish Power/Manweb) they won't let me have a capped price plan as I'm supplied through an IGT. This is a double whammy for Scottish Power who just made a 47% increase in pre-tax profits!! Does anybody know which suppliers definitely don't charge a surcharge for IGT supply and whether they will give a capped price plan? I called Scottish Power and got nowhere - Engergylink were sympathetic but seemingly impotent to do anything about this.

oldwiring

Check out the members of Scottish and Southern like Southern Electricity ( see one of my posts on this forum).

kat21

like all things it boils down to a contract, when you sign a contract it should state the terms and conditions. The subject you raise here, is one I raised a long time ago both with Martin, and energy watch. I asked both to make it clear when sponsoring sites that this information is included, sadly, I think my posts may have been deleted. If you were with transco and it was sold off at the time you signed your contract of supply, then I guess your supplier is at fault, in the same way that they failed to disclose something to you at th point of sign up. If you sign up with any company check out whom your gas transporter is before you sign. I signed up with southern electric and made it very clear that if I had to pay a transporter service then I would not have my supply from them, after all how can a gas pipleline provider justify increases in costs. Your meter reference point number off your old supplier should be able to tell you whom owns the pipe line, I wouldnt trust anyone else as, like some have pointed out its open to abuse. The more that write in and compaine to energy watch the better.
regards Gail

Stormy

Bikeman, are you sure the number is correct? As according to Energy Linx your not on a IGT. Hmmmm.

http://www.energylinx.co.uk/independent_gas_transporters.htm

(Last Update April 2006)

Strange.